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The Relationship Between Communication Skills, Social Networks and Decision‐making Strategies: an Exploratory Study
Author(s) -
Hickson L.M.H.,
Worrall L.E.,
Barnett H.M.,
Yiu E.ML.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
australian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 0726-4240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.1995.tb00703.x
Subject(s) - psychology , exploratory research , task (project management) , exploratory analysis , applied psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , computer science , data science , engineering , systems engineering , sociology , anthropology
This exploratory study investigated the impact of communication impairments on the lives of older people. The communication abilities, social networks and decision‐making experiences of 50 community‐based people over 60 years of age were examined using screening communication tests, social network analysis and the critical incident technique. The majority of subjects (82%) failed on at least one of the hearing, memory and naming tests. A significant relationship was found between a forward digit span task and number of social contacts. Communication was used in 88% of all decision‐making incidents described by the subjects. Communication was used in 92% of incidents with a successful outcome as opposed to 81% of unsuccessful incidents. The methodologies of social network analysis and the critical incident technique provided valuable quantitative and qualitative information about communication function in everyday life.